Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to electrochromic devices and methods for producing electrochromic devices.
Description of the Related Art
Electrochromism is a phenomenon where an oxidation-reduction reaction is caused to reversibly change a color by applying voltage. An electrochromic device utilizing the electrochromism has been intensively studied to realize applications derived from electrochromism.
The electrochromic device is typically produced by forming a layer containing an electrochromic material on one of two plate-shaped electrodes, followed by bonding the two electrodes together to sandwich the formed layer containing an electrochromic material and an electrolyte layer capable of conducting ions. In the production of the electrochromic device, a liquid electrolyte (an electrolyte solution) is used for the electrolyte layer to achieve a fast response of the device.
If an electrochromic device can be produced by a method that does not carry out the aforementioned bonding process, a device can be formed on various sites, such as a curved surface. Therefore, a wide range of applications can be realized, and a low-cost production can be achieved because a support is not required at one side of the device. Accordingly, production methods without a bonding process have been proposed.
However, the support was disposed on only one side of the device, and thus such production methods had a problem that electric resistance of the electrode was high when a transparent oxide electrode was directly formed on the electrolyte layer. Moreover, it was difficult to completely seal the electrolyte solution in the device, and problems, such as leakage of the electrolyte solution, tended to occur. If the electrolyte solution was replaced with a solid electrolyte to solve the aforementioned problems, electric conductivity was low, and there was a problem that desired coloring decoloring properties could not be obtained.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present inventors have proposed, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-112183, an electrochromic device in which a first electrode, an electrochromic layer, an insulating porous layer, a second electrode with through-holes, and an antideterioration layer are sequentially formed on a support, followed by filling a space between the electrodes with the electrolyte solution from the through-holes of the second electrode and solidifying the electrolyte solution to form an electrolyte layer, an electrolyte layer is also formed on the second electrode, and an organic protective layer is formed on the electrolyte layer formed on the second electrode.